I'd be really curious to hear exactly what is wrong with github's pull requests (seem fine to me).<p>And what "horrible things" does github do to commits?
Here is a YouTube (Google Tech Talks) video on how the Linux kernel is developed: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2SED6sewRw" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2SED6sewRw</a>